Shining Harmony
by RuikaRose
Summary: Za. Mello loves his piano more than anything else, but the red-haired boy who comes to listen to him play begins to have his own importance. Pure romance. MattxMello pairing.


**AN: I got a haircut! It was long anticipated and just a little bit scary - I must have gotten at least ten centimetres cut off, which is more significant than it sounds. When I stood up afterwards I felt very unbalanced, because my head was so much lighter! I'm glad to have finally had the opportunity to cut it short.**

**About the story, the theme this time was music, and I spent way too much time researching so that I could write it to the end. Looking back on a few of my stories where I've had this problem it really seems like I end up knowing more than I actually need to know and end up using. Oh well. :)**

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My fingers press the ivory keys firmly but lovingly and I close my eyes, reveling in the beautiful sound.

Each note resonates sweetly, and I imagine the air around me thickened with golden sound. It is a childish imagining, but a comforting one, and my weariness falls away as I picture the air sparkling with music.

"Lovely," comes an interrupting whisper. The feel of lips brushing against my own brings me swiftly back to reality.

My eyes flutter open and I am greeted by the sight of a smiling boy looking down at me. "Surprised to see me?" he grins.

"Looking to die?" I throw back at him.

"Oh please, Mello dear, be more careful with my feelings." He pulls away from me so that he can place his palm over his heart dramatically. His ear-to-ear grin rather ruins the effect. "I'm very sensitive, you know."

"If anybody else around here heard that, they'd lynch you," I tell him seriously and shuffle the sheets of music in front of me.

"But you're not 'anybody else', are you Mello? So it's okay." He wraps his arms around my neck and rests his chin on the top of my head intimately. I don't protest, but it's not like I encourage it either.

"Matt."

"Mello," he replies happily, clearly thinking I'm playing some sort of game.

"Matt."

"Mello."

"_Matt,_" I say dangerously, and I'm practically grinding my teeth in my efforts to stop myself from head butting him. "_Get the hell off of me already."_

He holds me even more tightly for a moment before he releases me. "Ah, you're so cold," Matt tells me, certainly not for the first time. His arms are long and he reaches across me easily, pushing down on one of the deeper keys. "If only you loved me as much as this piano."

I can't stand other people touching my piano. Entirely without thought, a practiced reflex, I push his hand away from it. At the sight of his pained expression I am filled with regret. "I'm sorry…"

Without a word he turns his face from me, moving to sit on the floor. This is what happens every time he comes to listen to me practice, and he always sits in the same odd way, one arm loosely embracing the front leg of the piano and his head leaning against the side of it.

Matt's lack of response is a signal for me to start. My hands move into place naturally, and I begin. As always I feel the temptation to look down at his face to see how he reacts to my playing, but I as always I find myself unable to. It is not long before I become immersed in the sound and such thoughts all slip away.

"What is it today, then?"

I pull out some papers from a folder in my bag and arrange them in front of me. "'Ave Maria' by composers Gounod and Bach."

"Hmm," Matt has placed his folded arms on the immaculate surface of the piano and rested his head on them. I glare at him pointedly, but he pays me no attention. "Is it good?"

"Is it good?" I mutter to myself and sigh. "Just listen to it and form your own opinions, idiot. _And keep them to yourself._"

He smiles at me brightly and goes to sit at his usual spot beside the piano leg. "Okay!"

For some reason even when he happens to be compliant I still feel the urge to hit this irritating boy. I swallow my annoyance and prepare to play. At the moment my eyes close my fingers begin to move.

The song is beautiful, and as I play it I feel it goes beyond me. It rises and falls; crests, flows, and seems even to breathe. I feel the air is full of stars; bright, shining music. Incomparable, unfathomable, there is no feeling better than this.

When my fingers lift from the keys and the last note fades, I feel as if I have been liberated.

Neither of us speaks for several moments, and I am grateful for it. Slowly, Matt stands and steps over to me, taking my face gently into his hands and tilting it upwards to look at him. He leans down to kiss me.

His warm lips caress mine tenderly, and the kiss tells me more than his words ever could have. He asks nothing from me in this embrace. This sweet feeling, I can compare it only to music.

Moments pass, and the kiss is broken. Matt releases me but remains close, choosing to sit beside me on the small piano stool, leaning his chin on my shoulder. I can feel his soft breath against my skin and it is another kind of beauty.

"It suits you," he tells me suddenly. "That song, I mean."

I turn my head a little, giving him a questioning look. He laughs quietly. "Don't look so surprised. The sound is…" he is silent for a little while, apparently considering it. "…beautiful. Delicate, and powerful at the same time. Unreserved, but carefully controlled. Aspiring, in a way. Does this make sense?"

No answer comes quickly to my lips, so I do not respond. Smiling, he continues. "It's a gentle sound. The way it changes makes it seem fickle, too-"

He's stopped by my fist hitting the back of his head. "I'm sorry, what was that?" I ask him sweetly.

"Uh, nothing, nothing at all," Matt replies, rubbing his head vigorously. He makes a sullen face but it disappears when I lean over and kiss him affectionately. Blushing now, he buries his face in my shoulder in an attempt to keep his cool. I narrowly manage to keep myself from chuckling.

"You know what's ironic about it?" I say suddenly, becoming serious. "It's a prayer. A song you say fits me so well wasn't written for me at all."

He sighs into my shoulder and murmurs, "Thinking something like that, who's the idiot here?"

I should be annoyed at this, but I can only smile.

"Play 'Minute Waltz' again, please?" Matt whines.

"I'll play it for you if you can tell me who wrote it," I reply. _That_ keeps him quiet, granted not for long.

"How about if I kiss you instead?" he asks hopefully.

"You'll kiss me anyway."

"Wah! Damn my affectionate nature!" he curses comically. I smile a little, but make sure he doesn't see it.

We have continued practice like this together, and I think it will go on for a long time to come. Like the music itself, Matt's presence has become very important to me. His laughter, his tears, his touch – when he is here beside me I feel that the air begins to shine while my eyes are open.

When I play Chopin, he laughs.

When I play Mozart, he cries.

When I play 'Ave Maria', when I have finished and all that is left of the song is its memory, he kisses me.

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**AN: I was very picky about which songs and musicians I used here, even if it doesn't seem like it! 'Ave Maria' was the song that finally won out as the main one, because I must have listened to dozens of compositions and I felt it was the one that fit Mello the most. He's very gentle in this fanfiction, is he not? :)**

**This is the rendition I listened to when I was writing it.:  
_watch?v=fKDcy6gu-lg&feature=related_  
After accessing YouTube, copy and paste the above code at the end of the address.**

**Also, it's only mentioned quickly (I'll admit that I had so many ideas that I couldn't use them all - perhaps I will write another oneshot on this theme in future?), but 'Minute Waltz' by Chopin was the song I thought was perfect for Matt. I loved how the pace would slow and speed up again, and the respective pianists - who really are beyond incredible, by the way - would add their own flair by making the notes stronger in places and so on.**

**This is 'Minute Waltz', I would appreciate it if you saw it to the end:  
_watch?v=1kfibWlWeP4_  
Again on YouTube.**


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